Armies of Gielinor
Armies of Gielinor is a FunOrb turn-based strategy game based on the RuneScape world, set in the time of the . Players summon fighting units from the RuneScape world, including a , which despite being the most powerful unit in the game is available even to non-members. These are used to fight other players, with up to 8 different players per game. There are 75 distinct units, although the most a player can have available during a single game is 41. Members can play Rated games, which can earn them runes to buy additional fighting units, gods, equipment and prestige coats of arms. Gameplay Armies of Gielinor is a turn based strategy game involving the interaction of units on a square grid. Players start with a Barbarian Chieftain, which is able to capture buildings, the most important being a nearby portal. Once a portal has been captured, the player is able to summon units using Mana. Units are used to fight the other players. Many units are aligned with a particular god, and require the player to have a suitably high favour to summon them. Favour is increased by summoning a unit of the highest level possible for that god. There are also neutral units, which can be summoned if the player has a high enough favour with any god, or by creating neutral units. The aim of the game is to fulfill one of three victory conditions, before any of the other players. These victory conditions are: #Defeat all opponents (by capturing all their portals and killing all their units). #Accumulate the maximum victory points for the level. #Accumulate the most victory points when the turn limit expires. Victory points are gained each turn, based on the number of villages, portals and towers the player has. Villages give 25 victory points, portals give 50 victory points and towers give 75 victory points. However, if an enemy player places a unit on top of of theses structures, the amount of Mana and victory points they yield is halved. A small amount of victory points is also given to the players at the start of the game, based on the turn order. This is 25 victory points for each player that has a turn before the player. Currency Mana is the currency used to summon units in-game from portals. Mana is gained at the start of each turn and at the end. The amount one receives at the beginning of the turn is equal to the victory points that you will get at the end of each turn, which means that you will get 25 MP for village, 50 MP for each portal, and 75 points for each tower controlled. The Mana one receives at the end of one's turn is dependent on how much time was left. The more time that was left, the more Mana you will receive. You will not receive any victory points, however. Runes are earned by completing games and function similarly to Wands in the popular game Arcanists - are received at the end of rated games, and spent on new gods, units, prestige and equipment. Runes can be earned even if you lose a game, however more are received for doing better, or for staying in a game longer. Some units of a new God are received free when that god is purchased, but rest need to be bought with runes. The number of runes to buy a new unit is the same as the unit's level. Units from Bandos, Seren, or the Menaphite Pantheon, however, will cost four times their level, and the gods take 50 runes to merely unlock. Maps There are 4 themes (Misthalin, Kharidian Desert, Frozen Wastes, and Hallowvale Swamps) for the maps, and 4 map sizes: small, medium, large and epic. * There is an option to make the game length double, triple or quadruple the default number of turns. Terrain Tiles can contain terrain of various types, which can affect movement and sometimes gives a defence bonus. Flying units are affected by terrain defence, but not movement factors. Structures The more structures you capture, the more Victory Points you get at the end of each turn. Structures can only be captured by three units: Barbarians, Barbarians Spear Women and Barbarian Chieftains. Each turn, the structure loses an amount of strength equal to the barbarian on it. When its strength hits 0, the structure is captured. Units Initially the only units available are the neutral ones and the free ones from Saradomin, Zamorak, and Guthix. It costs 50 runes to purchase each additional god (Seren, Bandos, and the Menaphite Pantheon), unlocking the units listed as "free" for that god. Players who have purchased an additional god have to choose which three gods to take with them into each game. Unit Classes Each unit has a class, which distinguishes it from units of different classes. The class is relevant in combat, as certain classes give greater or lesser advantages against other classes. These relationships are summed up in a diagram, where a lack of a line between two classes means that neither has an advantage. Effects on combat Each unit attacking inflicts a proportion of its strength as hits on its opponent. The percentage of strength that is inflicted depends on the relationship between the 2 units. AoG Forum thread on damage In addition runes are awarded for completing a game to the full number of turns, or until only 1 player is undefeated. The number of extra runes given the winner/loser varies according to the size of the map and length of the game: The number of bonus runes awarded is decreased if the games ends because a player resigns. The winner receives a pro-rata rate (ie 1/3 bonus if 1/3 turns completed, 1/2 bonus if 1/2 turns completed), the loser receives 0 if resigning before the game is 1/2 competed, then pro-rata over the remainder if resigning in the 2nd half of the game. Player Ratings Fun-Orb members have an option of playing in rated games. Members start with a rating of 1000, which increases or decreases as members play games. Winning rated games increases a members rating, losing decreases the rating. Draws can result rating loss for the higher ranked player and can give rating if the players rating is low enough. Mod Thaddeus - AoG Ratings In 1:1 games the amount of rating gained or lost depends upon the difference in rating between the 2 players. A maximum of 100 rating can be gained if a player beats another who has a much higher rating. the minimum gain is 1 point for beating a player with a much lower rating. The inverse applies for losing games - 100 is lost for losing to a player with a much lower rating, 1 is lost for losing to a player with a much higher rating. The gain/loss is 50 for players with equal ratings. the formula for rating gain/loss is approximately (results are sometimes 1-5 ratings points either side of what it gives): Gain/loss = (opponent's rating - your rating)/13.5, +50 if you win, -50 if you lose. The maximum gain or loss is 100, the minimum is 1, so any values higher or lower than this are set to 1 or 100 as appropriate. The 1/100 min/max is achieved with a rating difference of about 700 or more. The formula for gain/loss in team and multi player games is not known at this time, but the maximum and minimum gain/loss is the same as for 1:1 games. Rating Glitch During the week 23-30 March 2009 there occured a glitch whereby all wins scored 100 rating. This enabled people to amass over 5000 rating before it was fixed, by winning many games vs less experienced players. The glitch was fixed within 2-3 days, however several people who achieved very high ratings have since ceased playing rated games in order to preserve those ratings. The highest practical rating for people playing regularly is approximately 2600-2700. The effects of this glitch are currently still visible on the highscores table, with approximately 2/3rds of the players on page 1 of the high scores (13 of 20), and a few on page 2, having artificially high ratings and no longer playing rated games. Coat of Arms Each player can create their own coat of arms by piecing together separate parts. More pieces are available after getting certain achievements, like the Dungeon Assault titles. There are 6 separate components to choose: shield with or without ordinary; right supporter; left supporter; scroll; crest; and charge. This coat of arms is shown next to each player's name in-game. Each individual part has several designs, most with something to do with the achievement required to unlock them. Each part also has 32 colours to pick from, though some parts (like the trim on some helmets and shields) remain one colour, while the rest of it is changed. Equipment Main articles: Armies of Gielinor/Items, Armies of Gielinor/Spells, and Armies of Gielinor/Potions These are items you can take with you into battle, to help tip the balance in your favour. Equipments in Armies of Gielinor are one-use consumables that you can use on your units to apply a certain effect on them. They disappear once used and another must be bought to use on a different unit, even in unrated games. However, they are infinite-use in the equipment tutorial. They only last until the end of the game you are playing. They are split into three categories: Items, Spells and Potions, each of which are split into sub-categories, and for some even sub-sub categories. Prestige Coats of Arms Armies of Gielinor has a Prestige system similar to the one in Arcanists, despite having many differences. Prestige can be bought for a heavy cost in runes, and for each prestige bought, a whole new coat of arms is unlocked. Unlike in Arcanists however, buying a prestige does not reset anything nor make it harder to win runes. Updates On January 29, 2009, Jagex posted a schedule of future updates to Armies of Gielinor, as well as projected release dates for each update.Mod Nirdgerl - AoG Proposed Updates 26 February 2009 The first update included: *A team battle mode, for a range of players between 4 and 8. *An option to manage a game's turn limit. *Changes to the interfaces that help display a unit's movements and attack abilities. *In-game information on different types of terrain. *Poisonous attacks will cause green splats. *Improvements for the in-game minimap. *New achievements. *Changes to prevent 'portal camping'. 14 May 2009 The second update was originally projected for release in April 2009: *The trinket system, where players can purchase items (such as potions and spells) to use in-game. **Trinkets will be bought using runes, similar to units. **Trinkets will all be one-use only. **Multiple trinkets will be able to be held, with a certain limit usable per game. *Team chat *Prestige The third update, timescales to be confirmed (projected for Summer 2009), will include: *A single-player campaign mode that allows the player to progress through a mission system with each individual god. (released 24/11/2009) *A new fixed point battle mode, where each player chooses units before the battle instead of teleporting units in. *New terrain types. *New structures that will have different effects on units. *New gods and units (which have not yet been specified). 13 October 2009 A previously unannounced update introducing the Hallowvale Swamp map type, making the Kharidian Desert available to F2P, and new achievements http://news.funorb.com/c=IWSjv3fR7Hk/newsitem.ws?id=2321 24 November 2009 * Zamorak single-player Campaign added. http://services.funorb.com/m=forum_fo/c=Vl94lh4DTWU/forums.ws?0,1,91,45706 http://services.funorb.com/m=forum_fo/c=Vl94lh4DTWU/forums.ws?7,8,685,36811,goto,4 * The Penance Ranger has been replaced with the Barbarian Spear woman, but can capture just like her male counterpart. * Hotseat mode now has an AI option to practice and hone your warfare skills. * Pressing comma and full stop (“,” and “.”) in-game now allows you to cycle through your available units. * Seaslugs are now amphibious units. * We have expanded the Trinket options in multiplayer games to “Off”, “25 Rune Limit”, “75 Rune Limit”, “100 Rune Limit”, and “No Limit”. This should allow those of you venture into Trinket games to level the playing field a little. * Prestige is now awarded based on the number of Runes you have, you no longer have to buy them. For those of you have already purchased prestiges, you will be refunded in due course. * You can now only place one trinket on one unit per turn. I.e. You can only give a unit a shield or a sword this turn, but not both. You can still use another trinket on that unit but must wait for the following turn. * An inaccuracy in the instructions has been fixed, to correctly indicate that the monk heals 3 points per turn, not 2. Achievements Total Achievements: 32 Total Orb Points: 5,500 Trivia *The only free achievement that was in the game before the November update was 'Good Learner', which is based on the tutorial, ' ' in RuneScape. *In the tutorial, there's a city called Eastbridge, based on Cambridge UK, where Jagex Headquarters resides. *The game was originally planned to be released on 14 January, but was delayed a day to fix a potential problem, and delayed further on the day of release to fix a problem with "resigning in the game"."Mod Korpz - This weeks update" *In theory, a single game could take 3 days, 13 hours, and 20 minutes. It could actually take over that, because of the battle cutscenes. *The 'Bulletproof Monk' achievement probably refers to the movie Bulletproof Monk. *The 'Got to Get Them All' achievement was originally titled "Gotta Catch 'Em All", a reference to the motto of the early seasons of Nintendo franchise Pokémon's animé series. *The 'Thinking With Portals' achievement probably refers to the video game Portal. *The 'Fist of Guthix' achievement is a reference to a RuneScape with the same title. *The 'Dragonslayer' achievement is most likely named from the quest on RuneScape. *On January 29, a small update changed the voices of troops when you won and the objects thrown by gargoyles (rocks instead of axes). *The capture gameplay aspect has been reused in a RuneScape mini game Soul Wars where you capture graves and obelisks by holding them. *The ingame music is the same from the game music on RuneScape. The songs for the different gameplay points are as follows: -Multiplayer Lobby - 'Legion' -Combat - 'Attack', tracks 1-6 -Standard Terrain - 'Principality' -Beginning of Kharidian Desert Map - 'TzHaar!' *The 'Share and Enjoy' achievement most likely refers to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. *The 'My Sphinx, Therefore, I Can' achievement is probably a reference to the "I think, therefore I am" argument. *The Gargoyle description in the Army Setup still says it throws spears, but it throws rocks. *On July 8th, 2009 a hidden update added a single new large Misthalin map *Armies of Gielinor is currently FunOrb's #3 most played game. *Previously, trinkets were members only, but now they can be used in the Zamorak Returns campaign. *For a short time after the release of the Zamorak campaign there was an achievement listed on the Funorb Website for winning 4 rated games on Forinthy Barrens maps, however no new map type was released, and the achievement was removed from the website within a few days. References 2. Mod Nirdgerl - AoG Proposed Updates 3. Mod Thaddeus - AoG Ratings 4. AoG Forum thread on damage __NOWYSIWYG__ Category:All Games Category:Strategy Games Category:Multi-player Games Category:Games with achievements with duplicate names